Without the media serving as reporters for the public, then we have no one tracking accountability. Officials have no one at their public meetings. No one is present to record what they do in their quest to represent their constituents. The worst part is? No one seems to care.

When conducting a successful PR strategy, you will be receiving lots of media coverage. There will be a number of stories written about your business, you will have radio interviews, and even TV appearances, so it is critical to have a system to monitor all this media.

All of which brings us to Donald Trump and his wall, his war on Muslims and Mexicans and everyone else. The news media did not bring us Donald Trump. They just created the very fertile fields in which his own brand of personal terrorism flourished.

No Trump. No Clinton. No polls. No tweets. No wars. No disasters. No -- as I later learned -- Anthony Weiner or Colin Kaepernick. Instead, the boulders casting shadows on the mountains, the turkey buzzards riding the thermals, the smell of chaparral.

Donald Trump's treatment of journalists and the press isn't just offensive or rude or political theater. It is dangerous - and that is true whether or not "the media" is popular with the voting public.

This diet of junk news warps our perception of the world, the things we thing are important, and, as of late, the people we vote for. So long as media depend upon advertising, this is not going to change.